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Tooth and Claw (TV story)
Tooth and Claw 'is the second episode of the second series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Euros Lyn and featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler. Overview To be added Synopsis The Doctor intends to take Rose to a 1979 pop concert, but instead they arrive in Balmoral, Scotland in 1879. They have a chance meeting with Queen Victoria who is traveling with her entourage to the Torchwood estate, home of Lord Robert and his wife, Lady Isobel. But little do they know that a brotherhood of monks have turned from god and are now worshiping an alien consciousness that fell to Earth centuries ago and takes the form of a werewolf. It wants to take the royal throne and It's next intended host is Queen Victoria herself. Can the Doctor and Rose prevent the rise of the Empire of the Wolf? Plot Across the moors of Scotland, a band of hooded monks make their approach to the Torchwood Estate, where they are met by a steward working the house on behalf of it's owner, Sir Robert MacLeish. The leading monk, Father Angelo demands the house; when the steward and his men refuse to concede, Angelo and the other monks disrobe, revealing bright orange martial arts attire. Exhibiting the psychical skill suggested by their robes, the monks quickly overpower the men and the other inhabitants of the house including the Lady Isobel MacLeish. Chaining them in the basement with a large cage, Angelo removes it's cover, to reveal a sight at which Lady Isobel screams in terror. In the TARDIS, Rose dresses up in overalls suitable for Sheffield in 1979, where the Doctor is attempting to take them to, to watch Ian Dury play in concert. After the TARDIS lands, the Doctor lists off a number of events that took place in 1979 when they step outside to be encircled and held at gunpoint by Scot soldiers on horseback in 1879. Adopting a Scottish accent, the Doctor flaunts his psychic paper and tells the soldiers he is a real doctor named James McCrimmon; Captain Reynolds isn't amused by their bantering. An authoritative voice from the black carriage that the soldiers are escorting beckons them to approach; the Doctor and Rose are greeted by none other than Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Examining the Doctor's psychic paper, the Queen reads from it that the Doctor has been appointed as her protector. She elaborates that her transit by road is on account of an assassination attempt attempted via sabotage of the train line to Aberdeen. Reynolds informs her that they are on approach to the Torchwood Estate where they would stop for the night and the Queen decides the Doctor and Rose may accompany them before the escort proceeds. From inside the house, Sir Robert watches the Queen's party arrive, refusing to collaborate with Father Angelo's treasonous plan, but Angelo threatens him with his wife's violent death should he not cooperate. Stepping out the greet them, with the monks dressed as house servants, Sir Robert attempts to subtly dissuade the Queen from staying, but she is undeterred. While her guard escorts the Queen inside the house, others bring a special item in a wooden box in after her. In the cellar, Lady Isobel and the staff sit quietly, intimidated by the individual sat menacingly in the cage. While her majesty's property is safely stored, Sir Robert shows the Doctor, Rose and the Queen a large telescopic device built by his father that the lord makes claims is steeped in legend. The Queen is largely impressed by the device and the imagination from which it was conceived, having heard tales of it and Sir Robert's father from the friendship he shared with her late husband, Prince Albert. Before Sir Robert can tell more about the story surrounding the wolf, Angelo suggests that all members of the royal party go to their rooms for the night and prepare for supper. Later, while Rose is searching for more clothes, she discovers a terrified maid named Flora in the wardrobe, who tells her about the seige on the house before their arrival. Unbeknownst to them, the disguised monks chop up mistletoe in the kitchen while disabling the soldiers with drugged drinks and stealing their armaments. Rose finds one of the unconscious guards before the monks grab her and Flora before hiding the drugged guard's bodies. Meanwhile, the Doctor sits with the Queen, Reynolds and Sir Robert, who tells them the story of the wolf, when once in a generation, a child would disappear from his home and a werewolf would be seen stalking the moors. Down in the cellar, Rose and Flora are chained up with the others, watching the figure in the cage; it opens it's eyes to reveal piercing black irises almost consuming his entire eyes. It tells Rose that it's body was born of Earth, but the creature inside was from far away and that it shan't leave, but pass on it's essence into the royal blood by biting Queen Victoria and thus beginning the 'Empire of the Wolf'. Sir Robert tells the other diners that his father thought the legends to be true when the Doctor notices Angelo move over to the window and begin chanting. Below them, two more monks open the doors to the cellar, exposing the figure to the full moon; as it begins to transform, Rose, Lady Isobel and the house staff start pulling on the chains to free themselves. While Angelo is held at gunpoint by Reynolds, whom he subsequently disarms, the Doctor and Sir Robert run to the cellar and free everybody as the wolf starts to break out. They usher everybody out and seal the door as the wolf is finally free; upstairs, the Queen draws her own pistol from hiding and kills Angelo The men start taking up arms while Lady Isobel takes the women staff down to the kitchens to hide. The wolf breaks out of the cellar as everybody takes up positions and fire on it when it approaches. Believing the battle won, the steward is satisfied before it drags him up into the rafters and rips him to pieces before pouncing on the other men as the Doctor, Rose and Sir Robert flee. The Wolf heads downstairs to the kitchens but does not harm the women, almost afraid of crossing the threshold. With the entrances and exits blocked off, the Doctor, Rose, the Queen and Sir Robert try to escape through a window, but they are blocked off by the monks. With no other options, they run, almost to be caught by the wolf before it is shot by Reynolds. He holds his position while the Doctor takes the Queen to safety and is subsequently torn apart and devoured. Sealing themselves in the library, the wolf refuses to burst in, like with the kitchen door and retreats. Not presently in danger, the Queen demands answers from the Doctor and Sir Robert. Lady Isobel observes the Brethren monks standing with mistletoe draped around their necks and orders the kitchen staff to gather it all up. In the library, the Doctor discovers a similar Mistletoe oil worked into the wood, presumably done as a safety measure against the wolf. While the staff work with the Mistletoe downstairs, the Doctor, Rose and Sir Robert use the books to research the wolf where they find the history of it's origin. Knowing that the wolf will try to bite her, refusing to allow herself to be infected by it, she entrusts Sir Robert with protecting the valuable item she brought with her, the Koh-i-Noor Diamond. Taking into account Prince Albert's lifelong belief that the Koh-i-Noor was never finished, the Doctor realises that the house, conceived as a trap for Victoria by the wolf, had been made into a trap for it by Prince Albert and Sir Robert's late father, who both dreamed the possibility that the stories of the wolf could be true and plotted against it. Suddenly, the wolf breaks into the library through the skylight and everybody flees; Rose is nearly killed when it chases them but Lady Isobel and the kitchen staff douse it in hot, Mistletoe-drenched water, causing it to recoil. Sending his wife and the staff away to hide, Sir Robert escorts the Doctor, Rose and the Queen to the observatory, opting to buy them time while the Doctor readies the trap against the wolf. Arming himself with a sword, Sir Robert faces the wolf head-on and sacrifices himself; in the observatory, the Doctor and Rose allign the telescope, in reality, a light chamber with the moon, causing it to project a powerful beam of light. As the wolf breaks in, the Doctor thrusts the Koh-i-Noor into the light causing it to reflect and consume the wolf in a powerful beam. The wolf changes back to it's human form, who pleads to be let go; the Doctor increases the intensity of the light and the man vanishes, taking with him the essence of the wolf. When all it quiet, the Doctor notices the Queen concealing an injury to her wrist; concerned that the wolf may have bitten her after all, he asks to examine it, but she refuses to let him, claiming that it was a cut from a spliter of wood. The following morning, the Queen bestows a knighthood on both the Doctor and Rose, dubbing them Sir Doctor of TARDIS and Dame Rose of the Powell Estate (while winning Rose's bet with the Doctor to get the Queen to say her signiture line, "I am not amused'), before she promptly banishes the pair of them from Great Britain, never to return, refusing to allow their lifestyle in her empire. On their way back to the TARDIS, the Doctor recalls history stating that Queen Victoria did ultimately suffer from a mutation in the blood that passes down her family through the ages. Considering the modern family's traits from the 21st Century, the pair of them laugh hysterically at the fact that the royal family might be werewolves. That night, the Queen and the widowed Lady Isobel prepare to leave the estate; refusing to ever forget the events of the night, nor the sacrifices that took place, the Queen muses that Great Britain now has enemies from beyond imaging that must be fought. She, therefore, proposes the founding of the Torchwood Institute, to seek out these creatures and combat them and if the Doctor were ever to return, Torchwood will be waiting for him... Cast * The Doctor - David Tennant * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper * Queen Victoria - Pauline Collins * Father Angelo - Ian Hanmore * Lady Isobel - Michelle Duncan * Sir Robert - Derek Riddell * Captain Reynolds - Jamie Sives * Steward - Ron Donachie * The Host - Tom Smith * Flora - Ruthie Milne Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''Tooth and Claw'' page on '''Doctor Who Website